“But it’s tradition!”

Harriet Minter finds that the rituals of life make it sweeter

LESSONS IN ADULTHOOD

Igrew up in the countryside, surrounded by rolling fields, endless horizons and the sort of weird and wonderful rituals more commonly seen in an episode of Midsomer Murders. Lavender would be planted outside front doors to ward off unwelcome visitors, wheelbarrows of oysters would be raced through streets to celebrate the new catching season, and metres-high effigies would be burned while we danced around them.